Angelika Schwaff, Reisefreunde, Content creator for travel and food
“Berlin Brandenburg on a plate - with a twist. I love Königsberger Klopse, a traditional dish from this area that I’ve called home for over twenty years. Usually, this dish consists of cooked meatballs that are dunked in a heavy tangy sauce with lemon and capers, served with potatoes. It’s the one dish you’ll find in the last restaurants serving regional cuisine and it has a long tradition, dating back to the Prussian Empire.
For my recipe, I used all the traditional ingredients but made ravioli dough from the potatoes and filled them with the meat instead. Instead of serving classic beetroot pickles on the side, my beetroot comes in the form of a thick, tangy sauce. And because I love Spreewaldgurken so much - tasty cucumbers from Berlin’s green - I decided their tanginess would be good company in the form of chutney.
Bon Appetrip!”
INGREDIENTS
For the ravioli:
550 gr starchy potatoes
100 gr spelt flour (type 630)
60 gr semolina
1 egg egg yolk
1 tbsp butter, melted
Salt and pepper to taste
A hint of turmeric
For the filling:
300 gr mix of freshly minced beef, veal or minced pork
1 tbsp mustard
1 egg
1 anchovy
25 gr finely chopped read onion, sautéed in butter until soft
25 gr capers
A few parsley leaves, finely chopped
A piece of old, dried white bread
Half a cup of whole milk
Salt and pepper to taste
Breadcrumbs
For the cucumber chutney:
250 gr Spreewaldgurken or other fresh (non English) cucumbers
1 shallot
50 ml white vine
50 ml vegetable Stock
125 gr white sugar
1 star anise
1 bay leaf
1 tbsp chilli flakes
Salt and pepper to taste
For the white sauce:
0.5 l chicken stock
170 ml Riesling Auslese
75 ml heavy cream
Corn starch
100 gr butter
For the beetroot sauce:
1 fresh beetroot
Vegetable stock
3 tbsp raspberry vinegar
1 tsp olive oil
Salt and pepper to taste
RECIPE
Wash the potatoes and cook them in heavily salted water for about 20 minutes. Preheat the oven to 140 °C. Drain the potatoes, pierce with a fork and place them on a rack in the preheated oven and leave them evaporate for about 25 minutes. Once ready, peel the potatoes, then preferably press them using a potato ricer or grate them finely. Allow to cool well before using, ideally preparing them the day before.
Cook the fresh beetroot in water until soft, then peel and roughly chop into cubes. Pour the vinegar and oil to make a fine sauce and add salt and pepper to taste. Strain through an fine sieve to get the sauce extra silky.
For the chutney, let the sugar melt in a pot over medium heat and caramelize slightly, add the onions and let them sauté until they become clear. De-glaze with the white wine, add the spices and a bay leaf then let the sauce reduce. Once reduced, add the cucumbers and the vegetable stock. Leave to simmer until the cucumbers are soft enough. Add salt and pepper to taste, then set chutney and the beetroot sauce to one side.
For the Königsberger Klopse filling mix the minced meat with the egg yolks and mustard. Soak the old white bread in the milk for a few until minutes until soft and then take out the bread, squeeze out all extra milk and tear or chop into tiny bits. Add it to the meat mixture along with the capers, onion cubes, parsley and season with Fleur de Sel. Depending on how dense you would like you filling, add breadcrumbs.
Combine 300g of the cooled potato mixture with the semolina, spelt flour, turmeric and the egg yolk in a bowl and quickly knead into a soft dough, add salt and pepper to taste. Then, add one tablespoon of melted butter and knead again briefly. Leave to rest for half an hour. The dough should feel dry but it will not be as firm nor dry as a pasta dough. If it is too sticky, add some flour. With a rolling pin, roll the dough out to a 3-4mm thick and cut out circles with an average diameter of approximately 8cm. Now, put a small teaspoon of the filling within each peace. Lightly moisten the edges of the dough with water, fold it and pinch the edges together as though you’re making a dumpling. Place on well-floured baking paper until all the ravioli is prepared.
Extra adventure: Create two small meatballs and put the rest of the dough to one side.
Bring a pot of salted water to a boil and at the same time, melt a little butter in a pan over very low heat. In batches, cook the ravioli for about 7 minutes each. Taste-test one to make sure the meat is cooked through. Remove them with a slotted spoon and place them in the warm butter. Repeat until you are done with all ravioli.
Pour the chicken stock and wine in a pot and bring to a boil. Add the juice of half a lemon and a handful of capers. Throw in your two extra meatballs then lower the temperature and let the meatballs simmer for seven minutes with the lid closed tight. Remove the meatballs (you can snack on them now, yay!), strain the broth through a fine sieve and then bring to the boil again, adding the cream and thickening with corn starch to finish. Stir the butter into the hot (not boiling) cream and salt to taste.